The Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has told a journalist he would like to “smash your face in” after being questioned over reports of a series of mystery payments into his wife’s bank account by a former police officer with alleged links to the Rio de Janeiro underworld.

Reports in the Brazilian media have claimed that between 2011 and 2017 at least 89,000 reais (about £12,000) were paid into the account of Brazil’s first lady, Michelle Bolsonaro.

The mystery deposits were allegedly made by Fabrício Queiroz, a longtime friend of Bolsonaro who was recently arrested as part of a corruption investigation into one of the president’s sons, and Queiroz’s wife, Marcia Aguiar. Flávio Bolsonaro and Queiroz have denied the corruption allegations.